My, how many times throughout the ages, God’s people have lost sight of their need for fresh fellowship with Him! How many times we have taken things that were initially begun by the Spirit and turned them into forms and rituals!
Think about the children of Israel. The Lord brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand. He wanted to be their God. He wanted to lead them and speak to them and have a relationship with them. But within days, they were worshipping a form. They were rallying around a golden calf.
Later in Numbers chapter 21, when the serpents were biting them and they were dying, they called out for help and the Lord sent them a divine remedy. He instructed Moses to make a brazen serpent and put it on a pole so that all who looked at it could live and be delivered from the snakebites. (God does have some unusual ideas, doesn’t He?) That was what He wanted them to do that day in that specific situation. But the Israelites fell in love with the method instead of with God Himself. So years later, they were still carrying around that brazen serpent, worshipping it like it was a god!
Even King David messed things up when He tried to bring back the Ark of the Covenant which, in Old Testament times, held the very presence of the Lord. Instead of going directly to God to see how He wanted the Ark to be moved, David figured out on his own what forms and fanfare he thought would be religiously right. He got a new cart, found the best oxen he could find, and staged a most royal parade. But his plan was not inspired of God so it ended in death.
Those are all sad stories. It’s sad when God’s people trade relationship with Him for religious form. It was sad when they did it under the Old Covenant, but it’s even sadder when born again Christians do it under the New.
So let’s learn a lesson from our spiritual ancestors. Let’s get rid of the golden calves of religion and fall in love with the person of our God. Let’s go to Him, get fresh directions every day, and live in relationship with Him.
Scripture Reading: Exodus 32:1 – 14
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”